Why CMOs Get Fired

CMOs fail when they lose connection to revenue and can't speak the CEO's language

Carilu Dietrich
How to achieve hypergrowth in your business and career

Why CMOs Get Fired

"The issues are generally one, that the CMO isn't focused enough on the revenue... The CEO doesn't feel like they really have a partner in driving the revenue. Or they don't feel like the CMO really has a handle on what will drive the revenue." - Carilu Dietrich

What It Is

A diagnostic framework for understanding why Chief Marketing Officers (and by extension, other C-suite executives like CPOs) fail to build trust with CEOs and ultimately lose their jobs.

Carilu observes that both CMOs and CPOs face similar challenges: they're responsible for strategy roles with "difficult to measure results because some of them are direct and some of them are indirect." This ambiguity creates a trust gap that executives must actively bridge.

How It Works

The Core Problem: Trust Gap

CEOs often don't know if they can trust their CMO's judgment because:

  • Marketing spend has delayed, sometimes multi-quarter returns
  • Awareness campaigns take years to show impact
  • Attribution is ambiguous—what actually drove that deal?
  • The CMO's domain expertise makes it hard for CEOs to evaluate their decisions

This is especially acute at early-stage companies where the CEO is often a first-time founder who "hasn't run marketing before, doesn't know if they should trust what the marketer's saying."

Why CMOs Fail

1. Losing Connection to Revenue

  • Getting too focused on pipeline or awareness (leading indicators)
  • Not being seen as a partner in driving the actual revenue number
  • Failing to have "a handle on what will drive the revenue"

2. Not Speaking the CEO's Language

  • Marketing has its own vocabulary that doesn't translate to boardroom metrics
  • Unable to make solid predictions about growth levers
  • Can't connect marketing activities to financial outcomes the board cares about

3. Missing the Strategic Dimension

  • Only working the operational "levers in the factory"
  • Not thinking ahead: "What new markets should we enter? What new growth areas should we employ? What new companies should we acquire?"
  • Failing to earn a seat at the strategy table

What Success Looks Like

CMOs who survive and thrive:

  • Have a handle on the metrics
  • Make solid predictions about what growth levers they can use
  • Talk in the terms of the CEO and the board
  • Run their business well operationally
  • Are good leaders that people want to work for
  • Build great teams that elevate them and the company
  • Think strategically about market space, not just tactics

How to Apply It

For CMOs (or any executive in a "soft" domain):

  1. Anchor everything to revenue - Even brand work should have a clear theory of how it connects to revenue growth

  2. Learn finance - Understand how the business model works, what drives unit economics, how the board evaluates success

  3. Build prediction muscles - Track your forecasts against reality. Get better at calling your shots.

  4. Translate constantly - Never assume the CEO understands marketing jargon. Connect every initiative to business outcomes.

  5. Get ahead of questions - If you're always explaining why results aren't what you predicted, trust erodes. Proactively communicate what's working and what isn't.

For CEOs:

  1. Be explicit about what you need - If you need your CMO to be more revenue-focused, say so directly

  2. Create forums for trust-building - Give your CMO visibility into your concerns so they can address them

  3. Consider bringing in advisors - Third-party validation can help CEOs calibrate whether their CMO is underperforming or facing real business constraints

Why CPOs Face the Same Problem

Casey Winters notes that "most CPOs also get fired." Carilu's analysis: "They're incredibly hard jobs. The chief product officer and the chief marketing officer are both strategy jobs with difficult to measure results."

Both roles:

  • Own outcomes that take time to materialize
  • Have indirect causality that's hard to attribute
  • Get blamed when the company underperforms
  • Require translating domain expertise into CEO/board language

Source

  • Guest: Carilu Dietrich
  • Episode: "How to achieve hypergrowth in your business and career"
  • Key Discussion: (00:47:13) - Why CEOs don't trust CMOs and (00:49:26) - Why both CMOs and CPOs frequently fail
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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